Showing results by narrator "Laura Kirman" in All Categories

When Alec asks Jess out, she knows it won't work. He may be charming and handsome, but Jess has rules. And the first? Don't fall in love. Jess has inherited Huntington's disease from the mother that she cares for. Falling in love would just mean condemning someone to the heartbreak that she feels every day, as she watches the woman she knew and loved slip further and further away. Jess has learnt to keep everyone and everything at arm's length, but Alec is determined to break down her barriers.

Belgium, July 1939: Simone Lyon is the daughter of a Belgium national hero, the famous General Joseph Lyon. Her best friend Hava Daniels, is the eldest daughter of a devout Jewish family. Despite growing up in different worlds, they are inseparable. But when, in the spring of 1940, Nazi planes and tanks begin bombing Brussels, their resilience and strength are tested. Hava and Simone find themselves caught in the advancing onslaught and are forced to flee.

When Willow Lake asks her daughters for help renovating the family home, each has a reason to hesitate about returning to Maplewood. For quiet and bookish Emmy, going back to the town that ridiculed her fills her with dread. The youngest, Noelle, is perfectly comfortable in herself now but once wanted to fit in so badly that she walked away from her first love. A first love who still lives in Maplewood. And outspoken Rae is painfully aware of how much the townspeople hurt her little sisters growing up.

Cressida Collins is the queen of makeovers. With a well-placed stitch, button or seam, she can transform any frock in The Vintage Dress Shop and give customers their Cinderella moment. Like her beautifully organised workroom under the eaves, Cress's life away from the shop is just as orderly and mapped out. But when her boyfriend of fifteen years drops a bombshell, it explodes all the carefully laid plans Cress had for her future. It's going to take more than needle and thread to put Cress's own life back together. Will she ever be brave enough to say goodbye to her old dreams and start over?

Jess has decided it's time to get out of her comfort zone. So when her best friend Bryony, a journalist on a gossip magazine, is sent to cover the Cannes Film Festival, Jess decides to seize the day and go along for the ride. Reality soon bites, though, when Jess and Bryony find they're staying in a hotel far away from all the action and Bryony's expenses budget barely covers a glass of wine. Undeterred, the two women are determined to live like the elite and enjoy one night out to begin their holiday. So what if they have to tell a few white lies along the way? 

Olivia has never experienced a snow-covered, 'traditional' Christmas before. Having grown up in a family that chose winter sun over decking the halls, she’s not sure what all the fuss is about. So when she and her colleagues are stranded in New York after a work trip, Olivia is happy spending the holiday season in the Big Apple. Jon, on the other hand, is desperate to get home in time. But, he sets out to show Olivia how enchanting Christmas can be. And when handsome New Yorker Elijah is added to the mix, could the magic of the season finally be working its charm on Olivia? 

Former Olympic skating champion Katie Saunders is well known for her ‘ice queen’ persona in the press. Perhaps Katie should have forgiven her former skating partner and ex-boyfriend, Alex Michaelson, for the accident that shattered both her ankle and their Olympic dreams - but she just can’t seem to let it go. Desperate for cash, Katie, reluctantly agrees to take part in a new TV skating show, but not only is she partnered up with an infamous love-rat rugby player, but one of the judges is none other than Alex Michaelson himself.

After fleeing her hometown three years earlier, Alyssa Harrison never planned to return. Then the Silicon Valley start-up she worked for collapsed and turned her world upside down. She is broke, under FBI investigation, and without a place to go. Having exhausted every option, she comes home to Winsome, Illinois, to regroup and move on as quickly as possible. Yet, as friends and family welcome her back, Alyssa begins to see a place for herself in this small Midwestern community.

Pip Smith knows she owes it to her family to hold on to the festive traditions that have been a comfort since the year everything changed - but this Christmas she's going to need a miracle to keep everyone in her life happy. After she's dumped by her fiancé, an invitation to visit a friend in Hong Kong in the run-up to the festive season seems to offer Pip the perfect escape. Except her escape ends up becoming far more complex than she intended, when she becomes involved with arrogant American Ryan Hawke and his niece, Shelby - a little girl Christmas wish is for a proper family.

Lady Morwenna Trelawny Penvenan indulged in her fair share of dalliances in her youth, but now that she's the widowed mother to the heir of the Penvenan title, she's desperate to polish her reputation. When she's accused of deliberately luring ships to crash on the rocks to steal the cargo, Morwenna begins an investigation to uncover the real culprits and stumbles across an unconscious man lying in the sea's foam - a man wearing a medallion with the Trelawny crest around his neck.

Can a little Cornish village panto convince a troubled Hollywood heart throb to act again? Oh no it won't! At least that's what Zach Broussard initially thinks when the eccentric Anna Teague tries to railroad him into helping out with her community pantomime production in the run-up to Christmas. Zach has his reasons for leaving Hollywood behind, and his retreat to the remote village of Polcarne in Cornwall signals the start of a new acting free life for him.

Stranded in Rome, with all planes grounded due to volcanic ash, Callum gratefully accepts a lift back to London with a friend-of-a-friend who's on her way home after a European road trip in a campervan. But when he meets her, his heart plummets - she's Emma, his ex, The ex, and he can't be stuck in a van with her. When Emma sees Callum again, she's horrified. It's taken so many years to heal her heart - she really doesn't want to spend the next few days in close quarters with him.

Ruby Brooks is a little sceptical when her horoscope say she’s going to have a fabulous year – especially when she loses a boyfriend and a job in quick succession. So, Ruby takes luck and fate into her own hands with an unusual resolution – she’ll enter 10 competitions a day, whether they’re for her dream Japanese holiday or a year’s supply of dog food (she doesn’t have a dog), and win her way to happiness. But when a Valentine’s Day prize from a local restaurant results in chef Adam Finder (and his dog, Brutus) appearing in her life, is that luck or fate?

Alicia Marlowe's life as an executive coach is well under control - until she meets her new client, Jack Smith. Jack's reputation precedes him and Alicia knows immediately that he spells trouble. Not least because he reminds her of someone else - a man who broke her heart and made her resolve never to lower her guard again. Taking Jack on as a client is a risk, but one that Alicia decides to take for the good of her career. As long as she keeps him in his place, she might just make it through unscathed. But Jack has other ideas - including a 'business' trip to the Lake District.

Matt Westbrook only turned his back for a moment. But when he looks around, his car - with his three young children inside - has vanished. Panicked, Matt assumes a car thief has got more than he bargained for, but then he starts to receive text messages: This is a kidnap. If you want to see your children again, you will exchange them for your wife. Matt and his wife, Annabelle, are horrified....

On a snowy December evening, Sam Jermyn steps into the life of bespoke hat maker Ava. Sparks fly, and not necessarily the good ones. Times are tough for Ava - she’s struggling to make ends meet, her ex-boyfriend is a bully and, worst of all, it’s nearly Christmas. So when Sam commissions Ava to make a hat for someone special, she makes a promise that will change her life. She just doesn’t know it yet....

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens...she loses her child. For the last 12 years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged 15, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her. She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking....

His fingers fastened about her stone. He brought it to the light and held it to his nose. There was lightning locked inside. He rolled the stone in his palm to give it the heat of his body. She had come to him, catching his eye where she lay among dull flints. She alone among the stones had spoken.

When Nina discovers her boyfriend in bed with another woman, she decides it's finally time to channel the spirit of her idol, Nora Ephron. Her sequel to the most beloved romcom of all time – If Harry Met Sally – has been gathering dust for years, but her best friend Astrid convinces her that this is the perfect moment to finish her script and make it as the Hollywood screenwriter she always wanted to be. 

When Joanne Lefson took on a piglet at her animal shelter, the young sow proceeded to eat everything in her stable but a paint brush. In a flash of inspiration, Joanne attempted to introduce the pig to the art of painting - and thus Pigcasso was born. Starting out with a humble canvas on the sanctuary wall, Pigcasso's paintings are now owned by the likes of George Clooney, she has a Swatch watch design partnership, a wine label, and has eclipsed the previous world record holder for animal art.